Genesee's Calarco wins 2024 Super Librarian Award
AECSD Public Information Specialist
Victoria Calarco was inspired to become a librarian while growing up in Auburn and now her passion for her profession and the school district has earned her a distinguished honor.
The Genesee Elementary School librarian was recently named the winner of the Central New York School Librarians’ 2024 Soaring With Excellence Super Librarian Award. The award honors librarians “who have made significant contributions to envisioning and building the future of school library services.”
“I am so honored ... it is nice to be recognized,” Calarco said, “and for people to realize that I try really hard and I want what's best for the kids and by doing what I do, I think I'm doing the best that I can do to provide that to them. So, it's just very humbling.”
Genesee Vice Principal MaryClaire Pineau expressed the pride the school has in Calarco.
“Victoria demonstrates this hard work every day and we are proud to call her ours,” she said. “Congratulations, Victoria!!”
It’s fitting that Calarco is Genesee’s librarian because that’s where she attended elementary school. Calarco started in the South Seneca district a decade ago and came back to Auburn where she worked at Owasco Elementary and Auburn High School before returning to Genesee three years ago.
“It's always nice to see people that are educated here and then they decide to teach here or work here,” she said. “I love being here because it's my neighborhood. This is where I grew up. So it's nice. It means a lot more.”
Calarco was nominated for the award by her mentor and inspiration Ann Mlod, a longtime Auburn librarian.
“I wanted to be her when I grew up,” Calarco said. “She is amazing and I really do my best to emulate her because she just had such a go-getter attitude and she was so inspiring. I think she nominated me because she recognized that I am inspired so much to do some of the things that we're both passionate about. She also inspired me to be very globally conscious.”
Mlod is enthusiastic in her support for Calarco.
“Victoria is a life-long learner, a life-long sharer, and is passionate about her job and the library profession! Victoria’s instructional program is based on collaboration with teachers, and she incorporates technology in these collaborations in a variety of ways,” she said. “She is considered the technology expert in the building, and is always willing to share her skills with others. Above everything, though, she is student-focused and committed to helping her students become critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and global citizens! She is a true SUPER LIBRARIAN and deserves to be recognized as such!"
Calarco and Mlod have teamed up in an effort to spur global education, they aim to prepare “students to be global citizens, by developing an awareness and curiosity about how the world works,” according to a website (https://sites.google.com/view/global-since-birth/home) that chronicles their travels. Over the last few years they have visited Egypt, Kenya, the Netherlands, Cameroon, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Morocco and the Philippines.
Calarco mentioned a project where Auburn students raised $2,000 to provide lights and books to Kenyan students who have no access to electricity so they can read at night time.
“We didn't purchase books from the United States,” she said. “We brought the money to Kenya so that they could get books in Swahili and books that made sense for their life because we realized that kids need reflections of their lives, not just what one person says is the best book for them.”
Auburn High School librarian Beth Cuddy says Calarco is dedicated to her students.
“Victoria is a gifted librarian who constantly seeks out opportunities for her students whether it's arranging an evening program for an author visit or building a podcast studio,” she said. “She is always thinking of the students so it's unsurprising to see her being recognized for her efforts.”
Being able to use technology helps Calarco do more for Genesee’s teachers and as a result their students.
“We can focus on passion projects more than just the curriculum, not that we don't hit standards because we do, but we're able to really personalize what they do which is really nice,” she said. “I also love working with the teachers so my favorite part is the collaborative projects; we're doing one with kindergarten doing animal research and then we're recording them with augmented reality next to the animal that they research as they tell us about it. You can have a lot of fun and do creative things.”
Calarco is grateful that she can do this kind of teaching here in Auburn.
“I'm thankful to the district, because they have allowed librarians to be flexible,” she said, “and to really be able to do our job the way that it's intended to be where we support teachers where we have the time to get books into kids' hands that they're interested in. I'm really grateful that our district appreciates how a library is supposed to function.”
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